The Adventures of Mommy at Home

Apps I Love: My First Words

Electronic technology is part of my life. I use it for entertainment, for staying connected with family & friends, for education, & for keeping on top of current events, among other things. Whether it’s reading an e-book on my Kindle, watching a TV show on Netflix via our PS3, checking Facebook on my phone, or sitting here typing a blog post to you, I use something electronic every day.

I thought I’d share with you some of my most favorite apps because I like them, & I like to encourage people to cast their dollar votes for things I like. hehehe Other websites & blogs are far more authoritative on the subject because it’s their sole purpose. Not so here. I just want to occasionally share something I like.

Borrowed from Amazon.com

My First Words is a great little app I picked up for free not long ago from the Amazon app store for my Kindle Fire. It normally costs $1.99 for the full version (while a free Lite version is also available). It was the featured app of the day, so I downloaded it to give it a try.

The point of this app is to help teach children basic spelling, & it offers three difficulty levels. There are three different themes: animals, fruit, & colors. There are also three different letter versions: upper case, lower case, & cursive. When the word is spelled, it is re-spelled then read, followed by an animation with additional reinforcement (e.g. Black, like spiders). The app runs seamlessly on my Kindle Fire. I’ve not tried it on my Android smart phone. I have yet to experience a lock up or force close or lag of any kind.

Borrowed from Amazon.com

Level one is appropriate for toddlers & those just learning their letters. There, the player has to drag letters & drop them into the appropriate box to spell out whatever word is featured in the picture. Each time a letter piece is touched, a pleasant female voice says the letter. My toddler loves to play & enjoys snuggling up with Mommy while sliding the letters into the appropriate boxes. She’s always very proud when she completes a word, & her letter recognition has improved greatly in just the few times she’s played the app.

Levels two & three both eliminate the pre-spelled-out word, simply providing empty boxes into which the player slides the letters to spell out the word. While there are differences between the two higher levels, I cannot say what they are, because we haven’t played around with it much.

I thought some of the words were a bit long for level one (e.g. purple, monkey, rabbit), but since my toddler is focused only on matching the letters, it works out well. The animal theme features each animal’s sound, so she gets a kick out of that. The words repeat a little more often than I think they should, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Once the word is spelled, the app moves a little too quickly in re-spelling the word, & it caught both my toddler & me off-guard. We got used to it, though. When a word is spelled in the correct order, there’s a special animation of stars.

Overall, this is a cute little app that my toddler enjoys playing for several minutes consecutively. It’s a treat about which she’s gets very excited, & I don’t mind letting her play it as it’s also an effective teaching tool.

Check it out on Amazon:

If you would like to purchase the app, please considering purchasing it through my links below. The cost is the same, but I receive a small referral payment. Thank you!

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About Alyssa

I'm a home schooling mommy of two children. When I'm not cleaning, cooking, kissing owies, doing laundry, or rescuing pets from kiddie hands, I've been known to write, garden, play on my Kindle, peruse Pinterest, start (& sometime finish) DIY projects, edit pictures, play video games, and get crafty. Rumor is I'll be dragging my behind onto the treadmill. I love Thai food and historical romance novels. I'm wrapping up my PR degree & would love to get into editing eventually. Purple is the best color on earth, but it has a silly name.